I AM NOT SMARTER THAN A 4TH GRADER!

My boys are only in fourth grade and already I am pretending to go to the bathroom so I can look things up on the computer when helping them with their homework.  Really!  What would I do without Wikipedia?  And thank goodness I get the answer key for their math homework or I’d really look stupid!

I can’t be the only one having this problem, am I?  Let’s start with Math.  They are learning multiplication and division WAY differently than the way I learned it, so when I try to help them, they look at me like I’m an idiot.  My way makes sense to me, and it gets them the same answer, but they have no idea what I’m doing.  So now, at 40-something, I have to learn how to multiply and divide all over again, the “NEW” way.  Ugh!

Then I was helping them with Language Arts, another subject I THOUGHT I was good at.  They were supposed to pick out the subject, then the simple subject, the predicate, then the simple predicate.  Huh?  Run upstairs (be right back honey, I just have to go to the bathroom) and check the computer to see what the heck a predicate is.  Oooooh, okay.  Now, what’s the simple predicate?  Well, why didn’t you just say verb?  Now I get it.  Run back downstairs. (Okay sweetie, where were we?)

The best is when the teacher is giving me suggestions on how to help them, or what to look out for when they are doing homework, etc. and she is talking about things that are totally confusing me.  “Uh, now, refresh my memory, exactly what is that again?”  Yes, I feel like the biggest idiot in the world!  She’s teaching this stuff to my 9 year old and I have no idea what she’s talking about.  Don’t I feel like a LOSER!!!

So here’s an idea for teachers:  at the beginning of the year, write a little manual for the parents with ALL the answers for the entire year.  You don’t want our kids to think (know) that they are smarter than us, do you?

Karen